Since 1979, the Alien franchise has dedicated itself to delivering set pieces that have reliably given audiences more slime and squish for their buck than any other series – hell, even the Xenomorph soldier themselves produce enough drool a day to fill a hundred spit buckets in no time – and with Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus due to erupt from the fleshy chest cavity of cinemas, we’re set to get a while lot more.
So to celebrate Alien going back to its goopy, body horror roots, were going to trawl through the most unhinged, splattery moments of the bunch to see which moment proved to be the freakiest. Prepare those stomachs and possibly bring a mop because ladies and gentlemen… it’s slime time.
5) The Talented Monster Ripley (Alien: Ressurection – 1997)
In a movie positively overflowing with gloop and slime, Alien: Resurrection was obviously trying hard to tick that box marked “Body Horror” when it should have been ticking the one marked “Coherent”, but despite the fact that it’s one of the least of the franchise, it manages to included some top, squishy moments that does the series proud.
Squeezing past moments such as the unbelievably slimey birth of the goofy looking Newborn and a moment where the captive Ripley 8 lovingly caresses her xenomorph brethren is the moment when the half alien, half human Ripley Clone finds out exactly why she’s been dubbed “Ripley 8” and discovers the previous attempts to clone her. Most of the misshapen little fuckers are dead, but stashed away at the back of the room is the hideously deformed and very much alive Ripley 7, who begs her replacement to kill her.
An effective, quiet and sobering moment in a film that’s aggressively craze-balls.
4) Baby Back Rips (Alien: Covenant – 2017)
If there’s one thing that Ridley Scott consistently brought to his time with the Alien franchise, it’s providing a series of scenes that utterly fuck over the majic of childbirth into something shocking and hideous. Freudian and violent, all three movies Scott made in this series each feature staggeringly brutal perversions of childbirth and it’s to Sir Ridley’s credit that the entire trio managed the crack as adroitly as the chestburster manages to crack a ribcage as it vacated its host.
Picture the scene: background nobody, Ledward, has been infected by some microscopic, alien spore that floats into his ear hole which eventually manifests as a pale, white, open-mouthed monster desperately trying to escape his body but seeing as that whole chest/stomach thing has been done already, Scott opts for this thing to exit via the servant’s entrance and vacate through his back. Cue a lots of thrashing, screaming and spilling of bodily fluids and the way the hapless host flops backwards like a puppet with the strings cut is just hideous. However, the fact that this moment is the least of the three on the list should clue you in to what’s still in store.
3) Queen Takes Bishop (Aliens – 1986)
Synthetics in an Alien movie are something of a mixed bag – but whether they’re benevolent like Lance Henriksen’s Bishop, malevolent like Ian Holm’s Ash or creepily somewhere inbetween like Michael Fassbender’s complex David, there’s one thing they all have in common: milky, goopy insides. While anytime a synthetic buys it is worthy of this list just for the copious amounts of milky discharge along (ew), but just creeping it’s way to the top is the rather unfortunate fate that meets Bishop at the end of Aliens.
After escaping LV-426 by the skin of their teeth, Ripley Hick, Newt and Bishop all start to relax, blissfully unaware of the fate that awaits them all in Alien ³, but suddenly, the Alien Queen reveals that’s she’s managed to stow away by running Bishop through with her huge, bladed tail. His unpasteurized, milk-like fluid goes everywhere and to add insult to injury, the alien matriarch rips the synth in half like a phone book to further prove her point (e.g. she’s pissed).
Eschewing typical gore, the moment is a fantastic example of misdirection too; be honest, once Bishop’s chest suddenly erupted out, you thought it was a chestburster even though that doesn’t make any logical sense, right? But on top of that, it helps to not only show that her xenomophic majesty is still alive after stowing away on the drop ship, but it demonstrates her power just before Ripley engages with some Powerloader assisted smackdown.
Well, that and it’s suitably icky, too…
2) Mazzeltov! (Prometheus – 2014)
Admittedly, there’s a fair few flaws with Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise he created, but despite featuring some storytelling that proves to be as viscous as a xenomorph’s sputum, it also boasts more than it’s fair share of squirm inducing body horror as the crew of the titular ship start losing control of their DNA.
However, despite featuring scenes like a mutated Sean Harris jumping on stomachs like Super Mario and Rafe Spall getting deep throated by something called a Hammerpede, the crowning achievement goes to the utterly repellent moment when Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw attempts a hurried cesarean birth of the mutant lifeform that’s been planted in her womb by her mutated boyfriend.
Simply put, you’ll be hard pressed to find more moments in the entire franchise that’ll make you shuffle uncomfortably in your seat as this as Scott positively revels in dragging Rapace (who sells the whole thing magnificently) through every excruciating moment. And the repugnant cherry on top? Obviously it’s when the birthing sack pops to reveal her wriggling, cephalopod child, spilling its after birth directly back into the gaping wound in her abdomen.
Mmmmmmm, that’s good body horror.
1) A Bug In The Oven (Alien – 1979)
And so here we are. An epically grotesque scene so shocking, so out-there, so iconic, it not only instantly changed the mood of the film it’s contained actually in, it also managed to change cinema itself in the time it took to cough up a spoonful of noodles.
The set up is horribly simple, John Hurt’s hapless trucker has already had a disastrous first date with an alien Facehugger that, unbeknownst to him, has left a lethal bundle of joy nestled in his chest cavity and once the vicious little shit comes of age, it bursts out in unforgettable fashion. The result puts the “gory” in “allegory” as we promptly have our faces shoved in a splattery metaphor for the male fear of childbirth and it’s made all the more effective by the genuine looks of terror on the faces of the rest of the fluid covered cast. It still stands as one of the pinnacle achievements in cinematic body horror and not even the parody in Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs managed to dull the visceral power of a moment that leaves you just as hollowed out as Kane himself. Ain’t no amount of breathing or whale music or even an epidural is going to assist with this birth…
Alien: Romulus is in cinemas as you read these words.
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